High, but not mighty, mistletoe

The best mistletoe is the highest – or at least that’s what it usually looks like.

Have been out and about in some of the derelict/abandoned/neglected orchards of the Severn Vale around Gloucester this week. Loads of mistletoe on these old apple trees – too much on many of them. And the reachable clumps? They always seem a little yellowy (or ‘golden’ as we mistletoe aficionados like to say), and rather less marketable than the higher stuff.

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Now, if I’m rambling around orchards, I don’t often have a ladder on me. So reaching those higher, greener clumps can be a challenge. Hence the extending pruner – but even this, as the picture shows, can find itself a little inadequate sometimes.

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And when that tantalising lofty mistletoe comes down? It’s often just as yellow (sorry, golden) as the lower stuff after all. But it’s a good stretching exercise.

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I should consider myself lucky – at least our mistletoe is worth gathering. Over in North America the mistletoe species tend to be rather smaller, and even higher up the tree.

Here’s a link to Ginny Smith’s recent blog about hunting mistletoe in New Jersey. Her picture is reproduced on the left here – can you spot the mistletoe?

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Published by Jonathan Briggs

Jonathan Briggs has too many interests to list here. But for this blog the key facts are that he has an active interest in mistletoe conservation, traditions and marketing.
View all posts by Jonathan Briggs